Crowning Glory

By: Robert Nesmith

June 2007

Set to command a king’s ransom at Christie’s June 13 Important Jewelry sale in London, the diamonds used in this diamond tiara were given to Empress Joséphine by Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Made circa-1890 by August Holmström, jewelry workmaster to Carl Fabergé, the delicate crown is part of the collection of royal jewels that belonged to Queen Maria José of Italy. She inherited the 80- to 85-carat total weight diamond masterpiece from her brother, Prince Charles Theodore, in the early 1980s, and he received it from a direct descendant of Napoleon’s first wife and first Empress of France. The tiara's briolette-cut diamond drops are suspended by diamond arches, and the piece has not been worn since the Russian Revolution. Estimated at $797,000–$1.196 million, the piece sold for $2,072,303. For more information, contact Christie’s London at 011.44.20.7839.9060.